RALEIGH - Gas at $4 a gallon has launched a summer of sacrifice. Canceled vacations to Disney World. Hummers permanently parked in the driveway.

But high-priced petroleum has given the Triangle a handy tool for avoiding unpleasant chores.

Tired of driving to see the in-laws? Want to skip mowing the lawn? Just use The Gas Excuse: this year's version of "The Dog Ate My Homework."

In Raleigh's Mordecai neighborhood, designer Jennie Malcolm has a friend whose husband suddenly became interested in his carbon footprint -- not something he would normally fret about -- once the annual mother-in-law trip to the mountains rolled around.

It didn't work, Malcolm said. Everyone knew carbon footprint meant gas prices, and he ended up visiting the in-laws anyhow.

Still, the ruse planted a seed.

Malcolm's own family lives on the West Coast, and she is bound to fly there every Christmas. The visits are a delight. Spending her yule in an airport is not.

But now that gas has sent airline prices flying, she found an excuse to shop for a better travel time earlier in December.

Thanks, Exxon Mobil.

Inflation can bring unintended benefits. People tend to read more when cable television gets too pricey. Expensive groceries can make gardening more appealing.

So when gas costs get so outrageous, it makes it OK to think about yourself a bit more.

"North Carolina folks are kind, and I like to give people rides when I can," said Mike Phillips, who owns Men At Work Car Wash in downtown Raleigh. "But I have a conversion van, and I put in $40 and I don't think the needle moved. So now I will give you a ride if you're going my direction. But I ain't making no lefts or rights. You're on your own."

Check out Triangle sports and craft clubs and the members are increasingly claiming poverty, but still keeping in the loop.

A tennis nut who would ordinarily play on any court sends his fellow players a note saying he will travel from nearby courts only if gas money is provided.

A knitter says she can't make the group anymore if it meets three miles away. So now the group meets around the corner -- sweet walking distance.

For some, the gas excuse comes easily.

Sylvia Wiggins of the Helping Hand Mission said she knows a woman who quit her job at Crabtree Valley Mall rather than lose two hours' pay driving there and back.

"By the time she got all the way out there," Wiggins said, "it wasn't worth it."

Nationwide, the bogus hardship trend has even struck hallowed ground. The Los Angeles Times reports a drop in attendance at churches, synagogues and mosques, with one pastor spending $11,000 to tote his flock in a fleet of old trucks and buses.

But locally, church is the last thing people are cutting.

At First Church of God in Southeast Raleigh, Pastor Velma Champlain has led a triumphant increase in car pooling.

"We have a church meeting in Hickory on Saturday," she said. "Normally, everybody would take their own cars, and now we're all going up in one van. We're determined."

No excuses.

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